Wait continues for iPhone 3G at Apple store
People were still willing to wait in line for hours Friday afternoon outside the downtown San Francisco Apple store, as employees assured them sufficient supply of the iPhone 3G lay inside.
The line for the iPhone 3G at 4 p.m. in San Francisco was almost as long as it was earlier in the day: stretched down Stockton Street and around the corner onto O'Farrell.
Orange-shirted Apple store employees were moving up and down the line, answering questions and promising customers that there would still be an iPhone 3G for them once they got to the head of the line.
An Apple employee assures customers who had spent hours in line that they would get an iPhone 3G.
(Credit: Tom Krazit/CNET News)An Apple public relations representative confirmed that the company's servers were back online and activating iPhones inside the store, but declined to comment on the widespread problems that affected the iPhone 3G launch around the world. Some customers waited for hours inside the Apple store for employees to activate their new phones after Apple's iTunes servers crashed under the weight of the worldwide launch.
One group of customers said they had been told by Apple employees that the wait in line from the corner of Stockton and O'Farrell, roughly a block away from the entrance to the Apple store, was averaging at least two hours. Last year the line for the original iPhone had totally disappeared an hour after the doors opened.
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Arrived at store 7:30 A.M. Stepped foot in store 11:45 A.M. Greeted and started purchase process 1:00 P.M. Long long long story involving 2 managers, 5 attempts at activation, 3 phone calls to AT&T (speaking to a total of 5), 2 calls to Apple Special Operations.... and 5 hours later (O.K. only 4; I came home, took a shower, and ate dinner before going back out to Apple store) I walked out with my Apple store.
What are you going to do... nothing but laugh and make a party out of it. When life give you lemons make lemon Daiquiris. No point in getting mad over something you (nor the Apple employees trying to help) have no control over. It was all AT&T's fault.
In the end I got a couple of accessories competed to me for being just a jovial sport about the long wait.
"Apple's iTunes servers crashed under the weight of the worldwide launch."
While hundreds of people took off of work, brought their own chairs, etc, Woz just sat like a roast in gravy until it was 8:00, then took several of his friends (we called them the "p*ssy posse) in ahead of everyone else. That salt and pepper has-been needs a reality check - why can't he stay at home and get one by FedEx the day of the launch, just like the rest of Jobs' friends? I'd always admired the guy until I got a chance to see how big his ego is in person. (Hint: almost as big as he is.)
Trust me, while you're showing off you new phone to everyone, thinking you're so cool, everyone is smiling at you while thinking to themselves, "Get a life, LOSER!!!". I'll admit I did the "gotta have it on the first day" thing with the original XBox in Times Square, NYC only to bring it home and leave it in my livingroom for 2 weeks before I even cracked it open. Wanna know why? Because a normal life was taking up my time. Stop being pwned be corporate crap and realize what's really important. Then go buy and iPhone 2.0. I plan on buying mine in a couple of weeks. :-)
This has been a public service announcement from the CSDA (Common Sense Department of America).
c'mon, they probably sold quite a few million phones in the first 24 hours starting when New Zealand opened its vodafone stores.
And now the new 3G version comes out, and it's cheaper yet - but not for anyone who bought the first phone. Why? Because the lower price only applies to new users. So all you Apple fans get screwed again.
So while I think the iPhone is pretty cool, I guess I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. Is Apple going to drop the price in a couple of months? Or maybe introduce a new 32GB phone for Christmas? Mark my words, Apple is going to find a way to screw you all a third time.
And you know why? Because they can. Because all you mindless fans will put up with whatever crap Apple chooses to dish out - and smile while their doing it.
It's your choice - but not mine. Steve Jobs, you have to earn my business. And right now, you haven't.
What does the iPhone 3G do that the original iPhone doesn't, other than have a GPS chip and be able to run on AT&T's limited coverage 3G network? Not a thing. Original iPhone owners can upgrade the software to 2.0 in order to buy the apps in iTunes, whenever ITunes is back up and running in order to unbrick their iBricks. Way to go Apple. You couldn't have anticipated this kind of demand? Your Apple Servers and network weren't properly prepared for the increased demand. This is why you won't find Apple Servers running in any sort of iCluster in any high volume business. So while all you old and new Apple victims are sitting at home this weekend with your iBricks (whether last year or this year's model), my unsexy, uncool, non-touch screen Blackjack 1.0 iWorks without any iProblems. Enjoy your new piece of iJunk.
- by dndgirl July 14, 2008 3:11 PM PDT
- Monday afternoon. They're still there!!!
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